Reliance Inc (RS) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Reliance Inc fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings call.

大家好，歡迎參加 Reliance Inc 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。

(Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Kim Orlando with Addo Investor Relations. Kim, please go ahead.

（操作員指示）提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音。現在我很高興將電話轉給 Addo 投資者關係部門的 Kim Orlando。金，請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thanks to all of you for joining our conference call to discuss Reliance's fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results. I am joined by Karla Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steve Cook, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Arthur Ajemyan, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝您，接線生。早安，感謝大家參加我們的電話會議，討論 Reliance 2024 年第四季和全年財務表現。與我一起參加的是總裁兼首席執行官卡拉·劉易斯 (Karla Lewis)；史蒂夫‧庫克 (Steve Cook)，執行副總裁兼營運長；以及資深副總裁兼財務長 Arthur Ajemyan。

A recording of this call will be posted on the Investors section of our website at investor.reliance.com. Please read the forward-looking statement disclosures included in our earnings release issued yesterday and note that it applies to all statements made during this teleconference. The reconciliations of the adjusted numbers are included in the non-GAAP reconciliation part of our earnings release.

本次電話會議的錄音將發佈在我們網站 investor.reliance.com 的投資者部分。請閱讀我們昨天發布的收益報告中包含的前瞻性聲明披露，並注意它適用於本次電話會議期間發表的所有聲明。調整後數字的對帳包含在我們的收益報告的非 GAAP 對帳部分。

I will now turn the call over to Karla Lewis, President and CEO of Reliance.

現在我將電話轉給 Reliance 總裁兼執行長 Karla Lewis。

Thanks, Kim. Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results. Collectively, the Reliance businesses demonstrated resilience in 2024 as strong execution of our model and strategy once again fueled solid financial results in a challenging market.

謝謝，金。大家早安，感謝大家今天加入我們討論我們的 2024 年第四季和全年業績。總體而言，Reliance 的業務在 2024 年表現出了韌性，因為我們模式和策略的強大執行再次在充滿挑戰的市場中推動了穩健的財務表現。

Through our emphasis on smart profitable growth, we grew our same-store tons well above industry shipment levels bolstering our earnings in a falling price environment. Importantly, we were able to grow our tons shipped while also delivering a strong full year gross profit margin of 29.7%, squarely within our sustainable annual range.

透過強調明智的獲利成長，我們的同店出貨量成長遠高於產業出貨量水平，從而在價格下滑的環境下支撐了我們的獲利。重要的是，我們在增加運輸噸數的同時，也實現了 29.7% 的強勁全年毛利率，這完全處於我們可持續的年度範圍內。

Additionally, we successfully acquired and integrated four companies in 2024, adding approximately $400 million of net sales on an annualized basis and broadening our geographic footprint and processing capabilities in both new and existing markets.

此外，我們於 2024 年成功收購並整合了四家公司，年化淨銷售額增加約 4 億美元，並擴大了我們在新市場和現有市場的地理覆蓋範圍和處理能力。

Our 2024 non-GAAP earnings per share of $15.92 reflected the benefit of our targeted growth strategies, diverse end markets served, strong pricing discipline and expanded value-added processing capabilities, which collectively helped mitigate the impact of declining metal prices.

我們 2024 年的非 GAAP 每股收益為 15.92 美元，反映了我們有針對性的成長策略、多樣化的終端市場服務、強大的定價紀律和擴大的增值加工能力的好處，這些共同有助於減輕金屬價格下跌的影響。

Our profitability and effective working capital management led to the third highest annual cash flow from operations in Reliance's history of $1.43 billion. I'd like to thank our amazing teams across our entire family of companies who did an incredible job delivering more value to our customers in 2024, while most importantly, keeping each other safe.

我們的獲利能力和有效的營運資本管理使 Reliance 的年度經營現金流達到 14.3 億美元，創歷史第三高。我要感謝我們整個公司出色的團隊，他們在 2024 年做出了出色的工作，為我們的客戶帶來了更多價值，同時最重要的是，確保了彼此的安全。

We maintained our balanced and disciplined approach to capital deployment in 2024, investing $430 million in capital expenditures, $365 million in acquisitions, a record $1.1 billion in share repurchases, resulting in a 6% year-over-year reduction of outstanding shares and returning $250 million in dividends to our stockholders.

2024 年，我們維持了均衡、嚴謹的資本配置方式，投資 4.3 億美元用於資本支出，投資 3.65 億美元用於收購，創紀錄地回購 11 億美元股票，導致流通股數同比減少 6%，並向股東返還 2.5 億美元的股息。

Our capital expenditure budget for the 2025 calendar year is $325 million with an expected total cash outlay of approximately $375 million to $400 million, inclusive of carryover projects from prior years. As I mentioned, we acquired four businesses in 2024, bringing us to 76 acquisitions completed since our 1994 IPO, and our acquisition pipeline remains robust and active.

我們 2025 年曆年的資本支出預算為 3.25 億美元，預計總現金支出約為 3.75 億至 4 億美元，其中包括前幾年的結轉項目。正如我所提到的，我們在 2024 年收購了四家企業，自 1994 年 IPO 以來，我們已完成 76 項收購，而且我們的收購管道仍然強勁而活躍。

Before I conclude, I'd like to highlight a few corporate developments we announced yesterday. Brenda Miamoto was promoted to Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Programs, on February 18, 2025. Brenda has been with Reliance for 23 years, having served in various roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as our Vice President of Corporate Initiatives.

最後，我想強調一下我們昨天宣布的一些公司發展。2025 年 2 月 18 日，Brenda Miamoto 晉升為策略規劃與專案資深副總裁。布倫達在 Reliance 工作 23 年，擔任過多個職位，責任也越來越大，最近擔任的是企業計畫副總裁。

In addition, Scott Ramsbottom, was appointed Vice President Chief Information Officer of Reliance effective November 18, 2024. Scott is a veteran Industrial Distribution CIO with more than 25 years' experience and we wish them both the best in their new roles.

此外， Scott Ramsbottom 被任命為 Reliance 副總裁兼首席資訊官，自 2024 年 11 月 18 日起生效。斯科特是一位經驗豐富的工業分銷首席資訊官，擁有超過 25 年的經驗，我們祝福他們在新的職位上一切順利。

As we look ahead to 2025, our priorities are centered on striving to keep our people safe every day increasing our volumes through our smart profitable growth strategy, maintaining an annualized gross profit margin within our estimated sustainable range of 29% to 31%, enhancing our value-added processing capabilities, effectively managing expenses and working capital, maintaining our balanced and disciplined capital deployment strategy, promoting both growth and stockholder returns and promoting increased collaboration and sharing of best practices throughout our family of companies.

展望2025年，我們的首要任務是努力確保員工每天的安全，透過智慧獲利成長策略增加產量，將年化毛利率維持在預期的可持續29%至31%範圍內，提高增值加工能力，有效管理費用和營運資金，維持均衡、嚴謹的資本配置策略，促進成長和股東回報，並促進整個公司範圍內加強協作和最佳協作。

While macroeconomic uncertainty persists, we're excited about 2025 and well positioned to continue to grow our business and have both the capacity and the capability to participate in any improvement in end market demand across our broad and diverse network arising from the many potential opportunities that exist, including infrastructure, military, data center, electrical grid, general manufacturing and many other markets that we serve.

儘管宏觀經濟的不確定性仍然存在，但我們對2025年充滿期待，並有能力繼續發展我們的業務，並且有能力和能力參與我們廣泛而多樣化的網絡中由存在的許多潛在機會帶來的終端市場需求的任何改善，包括基礎設施、軍事、數據中心、電網、一般製造業和我們服務的許多其他市場。

Thank you all for your time today. I'll now turn the call over to Steve, who will review our demand and pricing trends.

感謝大家今天的寶貴時間。現在我將電話轉給史蒂夫，他將回顧我們的需求和定價趨勢。

Thanks, Karla, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin by expressing my gratitude to the entire Reliance team for a strong finish to the year and for their ongoing commitment to safety and operational excellence.

謝謝，卡拉，大家早安。首先，我要向整個 Reliance 團隊表示感謝，感謝他們今年的出色表現以及對安全和卓越營運的持續承諾。

I'll now turn to our demand and pricing trends. Our fourth quarter tons sold decreased 5.1% compared to the third quarter of 2024, surpassing our outlook of down 6% to 8%. However, fourth quarter tons sold increased 6.7% where 2.8% on a same-store basis compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, significantly outperforming the service center industry's year-over-year decreased 3.6% as reported by the MSCI.

現在我將談談我們的需求和定價趨勢。我們第四季的銷量噸數與 2024 年第三季相比下降了 5.1%，超過了我們預期的下降 6% 至 8%。不過，第四季銷量年增 6.7%，其中同店成長 2.8%，表現明顯優於 MSCI 報告的服務中心產業年減 3.6%。

For the full year, our tons sold increased 4% or 1% on a same-store basis, surpassing the MSCI industry-wide decrease of 2%. Underlying demand remains solid in several key end markets, including non-residential construction, certain manufacturing sectors, aerospace and automotive.

就全年而言，我們的銷售噸數成長了 4%，以同店計算成長了 1%，超過了 MSCI 整個產業 2% 的降幅。非住宅建築、某些製造業、航空航太和汽車等幾個主要終端市場的潛在需求仍然強勁。

We are pleased with the market share gains we made across nearly every product group while maintaining industry-leading profitability and a challenging year driven by our diversified business model, relentless customer service and contribution from our strategic investments in organic growth and acquisitions.

我們很高興看到我們幾乎在每個產品類別中都取得了市場份額的增長，同時保持了行業領先的盈利能力。

Our fourth quarter average selling price per ton total $2,170 declined 3.4% compared to the third quarter of 2024, within our expectation of a 1.5% to 3.5% decline. Carbon steel product prices remained under pressure, but we saw aluminum and stainless-steel prices start to stabilize in the fourth quarter.

我們第四季每噸平均售價總計 2,170 美元，與 2024 年第三季相比下降 3.4%，在我們預期的 1.5% 至 3.5% 的降幅之內。碳鋼產品價格仍然承壓，但我們看到鋁和不銹鋼價格在第四季開始穩定。

Next, I will turn to an overview of notable trends within our key end markets and products beginning with non-residential construction. Carbon steel tubing, plate and structural products, which we mainly sell into the non-residential construction market represented roughly one third of our sales in Q4 2024.

接下來，我將概述我們的主要終端市場和產品中值得注意的趨勢，從非住宅建築開始。我們主要向非住宅建築市場銷售的碳鋼管、板材和結構產品約占我們 2024 年第四季銷售額的三分之一。

All three products had significant year-over-year shipment growth and substantially outperformed industry shipments compared to both fourth quarter of 2023 and full year of 2023, which mitigated some of the impact on sales of lower average selling prices.

這三款產品的出貨量較去年同期均有顯著成長，且與 2023 年第四季和 2023 年全年相比，均大幅超過產業出貨量，從而減輕了平均售價較低對銷售造成的部分影響。

Our diversified exposure to the non-residential construction market, including heightened data center construction and related energy infrastructure projects as well as publicly funded infrastructure projects supported solid demand for our products and did contribution from our recent acquisitions. Our general manufacturing business, which also represented roughly one third of our total sales in Q4 2024 is highly diversified across geographies, products and industries.

我們對非住宅建築市場的多元化投資，包括加強資料中心建設和相關能源基礎設施項目以及公共資助的基礎設施項目，支持了我們產品的強勁需求，並從我們最近的收購中做出了貢獻。我們的一般製造業務在 2024 年第四季也占我們總銷售額的約三分之一，並且在各個地區、產品和產業都高度多樣化。

Shipments increased compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 and were consistent with the full year of 2023. Industrial machinery, military, shipbuilding and rail remained strong in 2024. And Consumer products demand declined year-over-year, which showed an improvement in the fourth quarter. Heavy equipment, particularly in the agricultural sector experienced weaker demand through 2024.

出貨量與 2023 年第四季相比有所增加，與 2023 年全年持平。2024年，工業機械、軍事、造船和鐵路仍保持強勁勢頭。消費品需求年減，但第四季有所改善。到 2024 年，重型設備（尤其是農業領域的設備）的需求將會減弱。

Our industry outperformance across key product groups, shipping to general manufacturing applications, highlights the advantage of our diversified business model and a dynamic and uncertain demand environment. Aerospace products comprised approximately 10% of our Q4 2024 sales. Demand for commercial aerospace was stable compared to both the fourth quarter and full year of 2023, despite short-term production and supply chain challenges.

我們在主要產品組（從運輸到一般製造應用）中的行業表現優異，凸顯了我們多元化業務模式以及動態和不確定的需求環境的優勢。航空航太產品約占我們 2024 年第四季銷售額的 10%。儘管短期內存在生產和供應鏈挑戰，但與 2023 年第四季和全年相比，商用航空的需求仍然穩定。

Demand in defense-related aerospace and space programs remained stable at strong levels. We primarily service the automotive market through our toll processing operations, which are not included in our tons sold. Our tolling business which represented approximately 5% of our Q4 2024 sales, saw processed tonnes increased 5.8% from the fourth quarter and 3.1% from the full year of 2023 due to healthy demand in both the US and Mexico and our ongoing investments to increase capacity.

國防相關的航空航太和太空計劃的需求保持穩定且強勁。我們主要透過收費加工業務為汽車市場提供服務，但這不包括在我們的銷售噸數中。我們的來料加工業務約占我們 2024 年第四季銷售額的 5%，由於美國和墨西哥的需求旺盛以及我們持續投資以增加產能，加工噸數較第四季度增長 5.8%，較 2023 年全年增長 3.1%。

Semiconductor industry shipments remained restrained in the fourth quarter with excess inventories in the supply chain. On the whole, demand remained relatively steady with strength in certain key end markets and market share gains, counterbalancing pressures in subdued markets. We continue to monitor the dynamic trade policy landscape and remain confident that our proven and resilient business model positions Reliance to excel through all markets.

由於供應鏈庫存過剩，第四季半導體產業出貨量依然受到限制。整體來看，需求保持相對穩定，某些主要終端市場表現強勁，市場佔有率增加，抵消了低迷市場的壓力。我們將繼續關注動態的貿易政策形勢，並堅信我們成熟且有彈性的商業模式將使 Reliance 在所有市場中脫穎而出。

Please refer to our earnings release for additional commentary on our end markets and product diversification. We are very proud of our team's extraordinary execution, which enables our continued industry-leading performance. Reliance's unrivaled scale and strong balance sheet makes us a highly attractive partner to our mill suppliers of all market conditions.

請參閱我們的收益報告，以了解有關我們的終端市場和產品多樣化的更多評論。我們對團隊的非凡執行力感到非常自豪，這使我們能夠繼續保持行業領先的表現。Reliance 無與倫比的規模和強大的資產負債表使我們成為所有市場條件下工廠供應商極具吸引力的合作夥伴。

We continue to win new business from new and existing customers who value the breadth and depth of our product offerings, value-added processing capabilities and recognize the quality and reliability of our service. I will now turn the call over to Arthur to review our financial results and outlook.

我們不斷贏得新舊客戶的新業務，他們重視我們產品的廣度和深度、增值處理能力，並認可我們服務的品質和可靠性。現在我將把電話轉給亞瑟來回顧我們的財務表現和前景。

Thanks, Steve, and thanks, everyone, for joining today's call. Our underlying operating performance for the fourth quarter was stronger than anticipated due to better-than-expected shipment levels and an improved gross profit margin when excluding the impact of nonrecurring items, along with year-end LIFO reserve and income tax rate adjustments.

謝謝史蒂夫，也謝謝大家參加今天的電話會議。我們第四季的基本經營業績強於預期，原因是出貨量好於預期，扣除非經常性項目的影響後毛利率有所提高，加上年末後進先出儲備和所得稅率調整。

Overall, our fourth quarter non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $2.22 included an unfavorable year-end LIFO true-up impact of $0.74 per share. Net of an income tax rate true-up compared to the assumptions used in our non-GAAP earnings per diluted share guidance of $2.65 to $2.85, more on that shortly.

總體而言，我們第四季度非公認會計準則每股攤薄收益為 2.22 美元，其中包括每股 0.74 美元的不利年末後進先出調整影響。與我們非 GAAP 每股稀釋收益預測中使用的假設 2.65 美元至 2.85 美元相比，扣除所得稅率後有所調整，稍後將對此進行詳細介紹。

While on the fourth quarter sequential decline in our average selling price was in line with our expectations, our tons sold were better than we anticipated, leading us to once again outperform industry shipment levels on a same-store basis across nearly all products.

雖然第四季度我們平均銷售價格的環比下降符合我們的預期，但銷售量優於我們的預期，這使得我們幾乎所有產品的同店出貨量再次超過行業水平。

On a non-GAAP FIFO basis, which is how we measure our day-to-day operating performance, our gross profit margin improved sequentially from 27.9% in the third quarter to 28.8% in the fourth quarter, reflecting better alignment of replacement costs and our inventory on hand.

按照非 GAAP FIFO 基礎（即我們衡量日常營運績效的方法），我們的毛利率從第三季的 27.9% 環比提高至第四季的 28.8%，這反映了重置成本與現有庫存的更好協調。

As Karla mentioned, our full year gross profit margin of 29.7% was within our sustainable annual range. Our strong pricing discipline and value-added processing capabilities which warrants a consistent premium irrespective of the underlying price of metal bolstered our gross profit margin and stemmed the impact of a declining pricing environment on our gross profit margin and bottom line.

正如卡拉所提到的，我們全年的毛利率為 29.7%，處於可持續的年度範圍內。我們強大的定價紀律和增值加工能力保證了無論金屬基礎價格如何都能保持持續的溢價，從而提高了我們的毛利率，並遏制了定價環境下滑對我們的毛利率和底線的影響。

For the full year of 2024, we performed value-added processing on approximately 50% of our orders. We were able to keep this metric relatively consistent year-over-year as we grew our business on both the processing and distribution side. More specifically, we grew our same-store tons sold with processing by 3.6% in 2023 and a further 1.3% in 2024.

2024年全年，我們對大約50%的訂單進行了加值加工。隨著我們在加工和分銷方面的業務不斷發展，我們能夠保持這一指標逐年相對穩定。更具體地說，2023 年我們的同店加工銷售噸數增加了 3.6%，2024 年又成長了 1.3%。

Our fourth quarter gross profit margin declined to 28.3% from 29.4% in the third quarter, largely due to the recognition of $5.6 million of LIFO expense as compared to our $50 million of LIFO income estimate. This resulted in 2024 annual LIFO income of $144.4 million compared to the original $200 million annual income estimate.

我們第四季的毛利率從第三季的 29.4% 下降至 28.3%，這主要是由於確認了 560 萬美元的後進先出費用，而我們的後進先出收入估計為 5,000 萬美元。這導致 2024 年的年度後進先出收入為 1.444 億美元，而最初估計的年度收入為 2 億美元。

As discussed on our last earnings call, our LIFO adjustment for the fourth quarter trues up our interim annual LIFO estimate based on year-end inventory levels and factors such as inventory cost per ton trend and changes in product mix. These impacts were heightened in the fourth quarter by the receipt of certain long lead times high-value specialty stainless steel and alloy products, which will ultimately shift LIFO income from 2024 into 2025.

正如我們在上次收益電話會議上所討論的那樣，我們對第四季度的後進先出法調整是根據年終庫存水平以及每噸庫存成本趨勢和產品結構變化等因素來修正我們的中期年度後進先出法估計的。由於第四季收到某些交貨期較長的高價值特種不銹鋼和合金產品，這些影響進一步加劇，最終將使後進先出收入從 2024 年轉移到 2025 年。

Accordingly, for the full year of 2025, we estimate LIFO income of approximately $60 million. It's important to note that this estimate reflects the carryover and normalization of specialty stainless steel product inventory from 2024 rather than an expectation of declining metals pricing in 2025. As of December 31, 2024, the LIFO reserve on our balance sheet was $435 million, which remains available to benefit future period operating results by recognizing LIFO income and, therefore, mitigating the impact of potential further declines in metal prices.

因此，我們預計 2025 年全年後進先出法收入約為 6,000 萬美元。值得注意的是，該估計反映了 2024 年特種不銹鋼產品庫存的結轉和正常化，而不是 2025 年金屬價格下降的預期。截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日，我們資產負債表上的後進先出儲備金為 4.35 億美元，該儲備金仍可用於透過確認後進先出收入來使未來期間的經營業績受益，從而減輕金屬價格進一步下跌的潛在影響。

On the expense side, our fourth quarter same-store non-GAAP SG&A expense increased a modest $8 million or 1.3% year-over-year due mainly to general wage inflation, offset by lower incentive compensation consistent with lower profitability. As a reminder, our model inherently normalizes expenses by rightsizing incentives as profits trend down. Sequentially, our same-store non-GAAP SG&A expense was down $3 million or less than 1%.

在費用方面，我們第四季同店非 GAAP 銷售、一般及行政開支較上年同期小幅增加 800 萬美元，增幅 1.3%，主要原因是普遍工資上漲，但盈利能力下降導致的激勵性薪酬降低抵消了這一影響。提醒一下，隨著利潤呈現下降趨勢，我們的模型本質上會透過調整激勵措施來規範費用。與上一季相比，我們的同店非 GAAP 銷售、一般及行政開支下降了 300 萬美元，降幅不到 1%。

We also incurred impairment charges of $11.7 million in Q4 associated with the consolidation of one of our operations into existing facilities to streamline operating efficiencies. I'll now address our balance sheet and cash flow. We continue to generate strong cash flow from operations in both the fourth quarter and full year at $473.3 million and $1.43 billion, respectively.

為了簡化營運效率，我們將其中一項業務合併到現有設施中，因此在第四季度還產生了 1,170 萬美元的減損費用。我現在來談談我們的資產負債表和現金流。我們第四季和全年持續產生強勁的經營現金流，分別為 4.733 億美元和 14.3 億美元。

While lower relative to 2023 levels, higher working capital release helped offset declines in our profitability. This cash enabled us to put capital to work in the fourth quarter through $110.9 million in capital expenditures, $61.2 million in dividends paid to stockholders and $142.4 million in share repurchases at an average cost of $271 per share.

雖然相對於 2023 年的水平較低，但更高的營運資本釋放有助於抵消獲利能力的下降。這些現金使我們能夠在第四季度投入資本，包括 1.109 億美元的資本支出、6,120 萬美元的股東股息和 1.424 億美元的股票回購，平均每股成本為 271 美元。

Year-to-date, in 2025, we have repurchased an additional $203 million of our shares at an average cost of $273 per share, resulting in cumulative 7.5% reduction in our total shares outstanding since December 31, 2023. We have $1.15 billion remaining for additional share repurchases under our existing $1.5 billion share repurchase plan that we recently refreshed in October 2024.

從 2025 年至今，我們以平均每股 273 美元的成本額外回購了 2.03 億美元的股票，導致自 2023 年 12 月 31 日以來我們的總流通股累計減少了 7.5%。根據我們最近於 2024 年 10 月更新的現有 15 億美元股票回購計劃，我們還剩下 11.5 億美元可用於額外股票回購。

Our leverage position also remains favorable with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of less than one, providing significant liquidity to continue executing our capital allocation priorities. I'd now like to spend a few moments discussing our outlook for the first quarter of 2025.

我們的槓桿狀況也保持良好，淨債務與 EBITDA 比率低於 1，為繼續執行我們的資本配置重點提供了充足的流動性。現在，我想花一點時間討論我們對 2025 年第一季的展望。

We anticipate demand across the majority of our end markets to improve modestly in the first quarter despite continued uncertainty about domestic and international policy. We estimate our tons sold will be up 6% to 8% in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, consistent with seasonal trends and up 3% to 5% from the first quarter of 2024 with 0.5% to 2.5% attributable to same-store growth.

儘管國內和國際政策仍然存在不確定性，但我們預計第一季大多數終端市場的需求將略有改善。我們預計，與 2024 年第四季相比，第一季的銷售量將成長 6% 至 8%，與季節性趨勢一致，並將比 2024 年第一季成長 3% 至 5%，其中 0.5% 至 2.5% 歸因於同店成長。

On the pricing side, we expect our average selling price per ton sold to be relatively flat compared to the fourth quarter. We anticipate our FIFO gross profit margin will continue to improve in the first quarter of 2025 as the alignment of replacement costs and inventory cost on hand continues to improve.

在定價方面，我們預計每噸平均售價與第四季度相比相對持平。我們預計，隨著更換成本與庫存成本的協調不斷改善，我們的 FIFO 毛利率將在 2025 年第一季繼續提高。

Importantly, this outlook assumes no significant trade policy disruption either positive or negative to carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminum product market demand and pricing. Based on these expectations, we anticipate non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $3.30 to $3.50 for the first quarter of 2025. This concludes our prepared remarks.

重要的是，該展望假設貿易政策不會對碳鋼、不銹鋼和鋁產品市場的需求和定價產生重大干擾，無論是正面的還是負面的。根據這些預期，我們預計 2025 年第一季非 GAAP 每股攤薄收益將在 3.30 美元至 3.50 美元之間。我們的準備好的演講到此結束。

Thank you again for your time and participation, and we'll now open for your questions. Operator?

再次感謝您的時間和參與，現在我們將開始回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Martin Englert, Seaport Research Partners.

馬丁‧恩格勒特（Martin Englert），海港研究夥伴。

Hello, good morning, everyone. I appreciate the time. I wanted to dig in a little bit on demand activity, and it seems like activity in the US market for steel and metals is picking up in recent weeks. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on how much you would attribute to seasonal gains quarter-on-quarter potential demand pull forward due to tariffs and possibly rising prices versus an organic cyclical recovery in US steel and metals.

哈嘍，大家早安。我很感激您抽出時間。我想深入了解需求活動，似乎最近幾週美國鋼鐵和金屬市場的活動正在回升。我很想聽聽您的看法：您認為季節性增長在多大程度上可以歸因於因關稅和可能的價格上漲而導致的季度環比潛在需求提前，而不是美國鋼鐵和金屬行業的有機週期性復甦。

Hi Martin. We can't really speak to what's happening at other companies, but at Reliance, overall, our volumes were pretty steady through 2024 in most of our major end markets. We were looking for growth, our people performed very well. As we commented in our remarks, we were growing at a higher rate than the industry in particular, non-res construction.

你好，馬丁。我們無法真正了解其他公司的情況，但在 Reliance，總體而言，到 2024 年，我們在大多數主要終端市場的銷售量都相當穩定。我們尋求成長，我們的員工表現非常出色。正如我們在評論中所說，我們的成長速度高於整個行業，特別是非住宅建築業。

We saw good activity there, not necessarily growing, but maintaining subject to the seasonal trends. and we look for that to continue in Q1. We think there's momentum as we move further into 2025 for some other markets to pick up a little more. But overall, I think we've seen pretty steady demand.

我們看到了那裡的良好活動，不一定在增長，但與季節性趨勢保持一致。我們預計這種情況將在第一季繼續下去。我們認為，隨著 2025 年的到來，其他一些市場將會有進一步復甦的勢頭。但總體而言，我認為我們看到的需求相當穩定。

Yes. In addition to that, Martin, coming into 2025, our January activity was pretty strong. And that's even in spite of some bad weather pretty much countrywide. So as far as pull forward goes, with the impending tariffs in March, we have seen a little bit of customer activity, trying to make sure that they get their material before the price increases. So we're pretty optimistic about the first quarter.

是的。除此之外，馬丁，進入 2025 年，我們 1 月的活動非常強勁。儘管全國各地都遭遇了惡劣天氣，但情況仍然良好。因此，就提前拉動而言，隨著 3 月關稅即將實施，我們看到了一些客戶活動，試圖確保他們在價格上漲之前獲得材料。因此，我們對第一季非常樂觀。

Your comment that response about the expected momentum potentially developing as you're moving into or through 2025. What specific end markets may you be anticipating that for?

您的評論回應了預計在進入或度過 2025 年時可能出現的發展勢頭。您預期這一趨勢將針對哪些特定的終端市場？

Yes. It's more from an overall standpoint, Martin, but there does continue to be uncertainty as you had asked about, and Steve just commented, maybe a little extra right now because of the potential tariffs. But we think once there's final news on that and everyone understands the playing field that we'll see people buying on a more regular basis again.

是的。馬丁，這更多的是從整體的角度考慮，但正如你所問到的，不確定性仍然存在，史蒂夫剛才也評論說，由於潛在的關稅，現在可能還會存在一些額外的不確定性。但我們認為，一旦有最終消息，並且每個人都了解競爭環境，我們就會看到人們再次更定期地購買。

We think different parts of the general manufacturing sector will improve. Hopefully, infrastructure starts to flow, especially of permitting and funding is a more efficient process. We could start to see some of the infrastructure money going, certainly, data center, everything related to the electrical grid. There's a lot of strength there. And so many different Reliance companies touch that type of business in many different ways through many different products. So we're pretty positive about 2025.

我們認為整體製造業的不同部分將會改善。希望基礎設施開始流動，特別是許可證和融資是一個更有效的過程。我們可以開始看到一些基礎設施資金流向，當然還有資料中心以及與電網相關的一切領域。那裡有很大的力量。信實工業旗下的多家公司透過多種不同的產品以多種不同的方式涉足此類業務。因此，我們對 2025 年抱持著非常樂觀的態度。

Okay. I appreciate that. I'm curious, maybe there's a couple of parts to this question, and you had alluded to policy and tariffs, if maybe you could walk through some of the positive and negative factors that could evolve for the company. And then also, I would like to understand what you're seeing out there in today's market.

好的。我很感激。我很好奇，這個問題可能有幾個部分，你提到了政策和關稅，你是否可以談談可能對公司產生的一些正面和負面因素。此外，我想了解您在當今市場上看到了什麼。

I understand you're a large domestic buyer and often probably at the front of the line when you're buying from upstream metals and steel producers. But what are you seeing in the overall supply side of the environment in the US in recent weeks? And anything changing work spending with lead times or reduced availability?

我知道您是國內的大型買家，而且在從上游金屬和鋼鐵生產商那裡購買時，您往往排在隊伍的最前面。但是，您看到最近幾週美國整體供應方面的環境如何？交貨時間或可用性降低是否會改變工作支出？

Yes. As you mentioned, Martin, I mean, we have been a very long-time domestic buyer. We prefer to support our mills here in the US It also helps us manage our inventory well, turning our inventory, which is what we look to do. Historically, when there have been tariffs or different trade policy enacted and it reduces the amount of import material coming into the US We generally see prices increase in the US, which has been positive for us. We currently anticipate that would be the impact again.

是的。正如你所提到的，馬丁，我的意思是，我們一直是國內的長期買家。我們更願意支持我們在美國本土的工廠，這也有助於我們更好地管理庫存，週轉庫存，這正是我們希望做的。從歷史上看，當徵收關稅或頒布不同的貿易政策時，進入美國的進口材料數量就會減少，我們通常會看到美國的價格上漲，這對我們來說是有利的。我們目前預計這將再次產生影響。

But until we start operating in that environment, we won't know, but we do see potential upside on the pricing front. We do think we're well positioned to receive inventory. We've already seen especially on the aluminum side, some movement upwards. We've seen some pricing movement upwards on some of the carbon steel products as well, which is all positive from our view.

但直到我們開始在這種環境下運作之前，我們不會知道，但我們確實看到了定價方面的潛在上漲空間。我們確實認為我們有能力接收庫存。我們已經看到，特別是在鋁方面，出現了一些向上的走勢。我們也看到一些碳鋼產品的價格上漲，我們認為這是正面的。

Okay, appreciate all the color and congratulations on the strong underlying results exiting the year.

好的，感謝您提供的所有信息，並祝賀您在今年年底取得強勁的基本業績。

Great. Thanks, Martin.

偉大的。謝謝，馬丁。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Katja Jancic, BMO Capital Markets.

Katja Jancic，BMO 資本市場。

Hi, thank you for taking my question. Karla, you mentioned initially that one of the things you will be focusing on in '25 is on increasing volume. Is that going to be more driven by organic growth? Or does that include also some acquisitions?

你好，謝謝你回答我的問題。卡拉，您最初提到，25 年您將重點關注的事情之一就是增加銷售量。這是否將更多地受到有機成長的推動？或者其中是否也包括一些收購？

It would be both as in 2024, where we saw a lot of growth, a little more than half of our bump up in 2024 was from the four acquisitions we completed in the year, but we also grew our same-store tons and that's we talk about smart profitable growth, which is go after more volume while also maintaining your margins don't take every order, but take those that will be accretive at pretax income dollars and we think our people have executed extremely well on the organic side going out and getting a little more volume, especially with the declining price environment that we had in 2024, those additional earnings off of the increased volume was very helpful in adding to our earnings and offsetting some of the higher costs we have.

就像 2024 年一樣，我們看到了很大的增長，2024 年增長的一半多一點來自於我們在這一年完成的四次收購，但我們的同店銷售額也增加了，這就是我們所說的智能盈利增長，也就是追求更多的銷量，同時保持你的利潤率，不要接受每一個訂單，但要接受那些銷售得非常出色，也就是追求更多的銷售，同時保持你的利潤率，不要接受每一個訂單，但要接受那些銷售得非常出色的這些來自增加的銷售的額外收益對增加我們的收益和抵消我們的部分較高成本非常有幫助。

And maybe on the value-added processing, I think when we saw -- what we saw during the COVID is that the interest in value-add processing increase. Could this environment where you have increasing protection as policies drive another like higher on interest in domestic value add processing?

也許在增值加工方面，我認為當我們看到——我們在 COVID 期間看到的是，人們對增值加工的興趣增加了。在這種環境下，您是否會因為政策推動而獲得越來越多的保護，例如對國內增值加工的興趣增加？

I mean it potentially could, certainly, if there's less of that being done offshore. That's part of the reshoring that's been happening in the last few years. But even before a lot of reshoring, we've just seen a change with a lot of our customers where they've looked at what they're doing internally, trying to drive cost out, be more efficient and they realize that because Reliance companies are serving many different customers, we're able to oftentimes do the same type of processing for them more cost effectively than our customers doing it in-house.

我的意思是，如果外部業務減少的話，這當然是有可能的。這是過去幾年來製造業回流的一部分。但即使在大量業務回流之前，我們已經看到許多客戶發生了變化，他們審視內部所做的事情，試圖降低成本，提高效率，他們意識到由於 Reliance 公司服務於許多不同的客戶，因此與我們的客戶內部進行相比，我們通常能夠更經濟高效地為他們進行相同類型的處理。

So we had already seen a trend from our customers. And then, yes, with the reassuring trends that certainly could potentially drive it up more. We have seen some of our customers come to us, when business has come back from Asia or ever, and it's come back to the US So that could drive it higher.

我們已經從客戶身上看到了一種趨勢。是的，隨著令人欣慰的趨勢出現，它肯定會進一步上漲。當業務從亞洲回來時，我們看到一些客戶來找我們，而且業務已經回到了美國，因此這可能會推高價格。

I will say, though, we did increase the number of tons, the number of orders we did processing on in 2024, but we also grew the distribution side of our business especially with some of our acquisitions. And we just are able and ready to continue to invest in whatever our customers need us to do for them on a profitable basis. And we do expect to continue to see more of that activity.

不過，我要說的是，我們確實增加了噸數，增加了 2024 年處理的訂單數量，但我們的業務分銷方面也得到了成長，尤其是透過一些收購。我們有能力並且願意繼續投資於客戶需要我們以盈利的方式為他們做的事情。我們確實希望繼續看到更多這樣的活動。

And Katja, I would add to that, general -- our sales into the general manufacturing end market, the products that we ship to those to that end market and actually lend themselves for value-added processing at a much higher rate than other products. So as general manufacturing activity picks up, we should see a pickup in our value-added processing sales as well.

卡佳，我想補充一點，總的來說，我們在一般製造終端市場的銷售，以及我們運送到終端市場的產品，實際上比其他產品更容易進行增值加工。因此，隨著整體製造活動的回暖，我們也應該會看到加值加工銷售的回溫。

Great, thank you. I'll call back into the queue.

太好了，謝謝。我會回撥電話到隊列。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Phil Gibbs, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

KeyBanc 資本市場公司的 Phil Gibbs。

Hi, good morning.

嗨，早安。

Hi, morning.

早安.

So I'm looking at operating expenses up about 4% year-on-year, you had a 4% uplift in volumes ex tolling, but you did have a decline in your FIFO gross profit. So not a ton of leverage maybe relative to some historical years, so showing that there's still maybe some -- either some excess costs in your supply chain and/or inflation within the business is pretty sticky. Any opportunities to lean that out? Or are they just going to be through operations you're going to have to grow into?

因此，我發現營業費用年增了約 4％，扣除收費後的銷量增長了 4％，但 FIFO 毛利卻有所下降。因此，相對於某些歷史年份而言，槓桿率可能並不高，因此表明可能仍然存在一些——要么是供應鏈中的一些過剩成本，要么是企業內部的通貨膨脹，這是相當棘手的。有沒有什麼機會可以擺脫這個困境？或者他們只是要透過你必須成長的營運來實現？

Yes, hi Phil. So certainly, costs are up, wage inflation. We continue to want to pay good fair wages to our employees. So we do have some wage inflation. Some of our incentive comp is down because of the lower FIFO profitability that you talked about. We are always looking for ways to take some costs out. We do have some instances where we maybe have to carry a few more people to a longer training time in general when we're bringing new employees on now.

是的，嗨，菲爾。因此，成本肯定會上升，工資也會上漲。我們繼續希望向我們的員工支付良好公平的工資。因此我們確實存在一些薪資通膨。由於您提到的先進先出獲利能力較低，我們的部分激勵補償有所下降。我們一直在尋找方法來減少一些成本。我們確實有一些情況，當我們現在招募新員工時，我們可能必須讓更多的人接受更長的培訓。

But all of our folks out in the field are looking at ways to potentially take cost out, but also, at the same time, we need to retain our good employees who are trained, who know how to work safely in our environments. So we're reacting the best we can, but certainly, there has been some inflationary increase.

但是，我們所有在現場工作的員工都在尋找可能降低成本的方法，但同時，我們也需要留住經過培訓的優秀員工，他們知道如何在我們的環境中安全工作。因此，我們正在盡最大努力做出反應，但通貨膨脹確實有所上升。

Yes. And so, I would add to that. At a high level, we've been able to keep our operating cost per ton pretty steady. In the last three years at roughly in the $40 to $50 a ton in that range. But also, Karla spoke to smart profitable growth. And as part of that initiative, we're really trying to your point, grow into the cost structure.

是的。因此我想補充一點。從高水準來看，我們能夠維持每噸營運成本相當穩定。過去三年，價格大約在每噸 40 至 50 美元之間。但卡拉也談到了智慧獲利成長。作為該計劃的一部分，我們確實在努力實現您的觀點，即改善成本結構。

So as we bring additional business, we're trying to get more efficient and not increase our expenses. So that's part of the smart profitable growth, not just kind of from a margin perspective but from an expense perspective. So we've been able to have get some really good traction on that front, and we're looking to continue with that strategy going forward.

因此，當我們帶來更多業務時，我們會努力提高效率並且不增加開支。因此，這是智慧獲利成長的一部分，不僅從利潤率的角度，而且從費用的角度。因此，我們在這方面已經取得了一些非常好的進展，我們希望在未來繼續推行這項策略。

Thank you. And can you speak to -- I don't know if you mentioned it in the prepared remarks but maybe talk about cash CapEx in 2025.

謝謝。您能否談談——我不知道您是否在準備好的演講中提到過這個問題，但也許可以談談 2025 年的現金資本支出。

Yes. We're estimating that our current year budget for new projects is $325 million, but we still have carryover from some projects that roll into this year. So we're estimating $375 million to $400 million of cash outlay this year.

是的。我們估計本年度用於新項目的預算為 3.25 億美元，但部分項目的預算仍會延續到今年。因此我們預計今年的現金支出為 3.75 億至 4 億美元。

Thanks, Karla. And then semis, you talked about being soft and historically, I thought about you guys as having more semis infra. So there's still that build-out occurring comments seem to be more semis production maybe that's through some of the aluminum plate business, I don't know but maybe qualify what you're seeing there and what you expect over the next few years.

謝謝，卡拉。然後是半導體，你們談到了軟性，從歷史上看，我認為你們擁有更多的半導體基礎設施。因此，仍然存在著建設中的評論，似乎更多的是半成品生產，也許是透過一些鋁板業務，我不知道，但也許符合你在那裡看到的以及你對未來幾年的期望。

Yes. I think certainly, long term, we're still bullish on the semiconductor industry, especially as you're referencing a lot of the build going on here in the US I would say on the infrastructure side of that where we participate when they're building new plants. It's been like pretty choppy.

是的。我認為，從長遠來看，我們仍然看好半導體產業，特別是當你提到美國正在進行的大量建設時，我會說在基礎設施方面，我們會參與他們建造新工廠。情況一直很不穩定。

I think different of the semiconductor manufacturing companies, whether it's permitting, whether it's workforce, whether it's other internal issues that they're dealing with. One project will be pretty busy and then all of a sudden, that stops and another project heats up a little bit. So it hasn't been as smooth or a steady of a build, but we are participating in the projects that are active.

我認為半導體製造公司的情況有所不同，無論是許可、勞動力或他們正在處理的其他內部問題。一個專案可能非常繁忙，然後突然間，專案停止了，而另一個專案則變得有點熱鬧。因此，建設過程並不順利或穩定，但我們正在參與活躍的專案。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Mike Harris, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的麥克·哈里斯。

Yes, thank you. If I could, I wanted to give just a bit more clarification around the first quarter guide for time sold being up 6% to 8%, but pricing roughly flat I guess I was a little surprised we're not more optimistic around pricing, all considered. And is that because there's maybe an unfavorable mix in that 6% to 8% that could be cap pricing? Or you just been conservative parent the conservative side at this point?

是的，謝謝。如果可以的話，我想就第一季的銷售時間指南提供更多的說明，即銷售時間上漲 6％ 至 8％，但價格基本上持平，我想，考慮到所有因素，我對我們對定價並不更樂觀感到有點驚訝。這是因為 6% 到 8% 之間的比例可能存在不利因素，從而可能形成定價上限嗎？還是你現在只是保守派的家長？

So Mike, we're not baking in anything from the tariffs, not at this point. We think it could be positive for pricing. But yes, we typically take a conservative view. There have been some price increase announcements, but sometimes on certain products. But sometimes it takes a little time for those to really be effective in the market. So that's the way we guided for the quarter. And hopefully, there will be some upside to that.

所以麥克，我們目前還沒有考慮關稅的任何影響。我們認為這可能對定價產生正面影響。但確實，我們通常持保守觀點。已經有一些價格上漲公告，但有時是針對某些特定產品。但有時這些方法需要一點時間才能在市場上真正發揮作用。這就是我們對本季的指導方針。希望這會帶來一些好處。

Okay. Okay. That's fair. And then just for the first quarter, how should we think about working capital and perhaps speak to your expectations for inventory days on hand.

好的。好的。這很公平。那麼就第一季而言，我們應該如何考慮營運資本，以及您對庫存天數的預期。

Yes. Mike, you can look at typical seasonality in our business, go back to the last two, three years and just look at seasonally going into Q1, what happens from Q4. And as you have higher shipment levels typically in Q1, you end up building some working capital. And then the typical trends are Q1 and Q2, you might end up building working capital and then Q3 and Q4, you have releases. So that's sort of the typical seasonality, and we would expect it to be consistent with those historical seasonal patterns.

是的。麥克，您可以看看我們業務的典型季節性，回顧過去兩三年，看看第一季的季節性，以及第四季的情況。而且由於您在第一季的出貨量通常較高，因此您最終會累積一些營運資金。然後典型的趨勢是 Q1 和 Q2，您可能最終會建立營運資本，然後在 Q3 和 Q4，您會獲得釋放。這是一種典型的季節性，我們預期它與歷史季節性模式一致。

Okay, thanks for that additional color.

好的，謝謝你添加的顏色。

Yes, you got it.

是的，你明白了。

Alex Hacking, Citi.

花旗銀行的亞歷克斯‧哈金 (Alex Hacking)。

Yes, thanks for the call. Just turning back to tariffs again. You mentioned higher pricing is generally good for you. But can you just remind us what's your -- do you have any exposure to material coming across the border from Canada or Mexico?

是的，謝謝您的來電。再次回到關稅問題。您提到更高的定價通常對您有利。但是您能否提醒我們一下，您是否接觸過從加拿大或墨西哥跨境運輸的資料？

So we certainly, we have locations in all three countries in North America, they typically are buying domestically. Our toll processing company in Mexico does have a license to import metal for their customers from the US So there could be some impact there.

因此，我們當然在北美這三個國家都有辦事處，他們通常都在國內採購。我們在墨西哥的收費加工公司確實擁有從美國為其客戶進口金屬的許可證，因此可能會產生一些影響。

Overall, international is a fairly small part of our business. We're typically most of our locations are within the US We're typically shipping within about 150-mile radius. And so, we don't anticipate a significant impact, but we could see some disruptions in that part of our business that flows across the borders.

整體而言，國際業務只占我們業務的一小部分。我們的大部分地點通常都在美國境內，我們通常在約 150 英里半徑範圍內發貨。因此，我們預計不會產生重大影響，但我們的跨國業務部分可能會受到一些幹擾。

Yes. And I agree with Karla. We'll see some disruptions since we are 95% to 96% domestically sourced. We think that an overall strong US steel market with higher prices supports Reliance, supports the companies that are investing billings and billions of dollars into our infrastructure. So we will deal on a key spec basis with some tariff disruption. But overall, we're very positive.

是的。我同意卡拉的觀點。由於我們的產品95%至96%來自國內，所以我們將會看到一些中斷。我們認為，美國鋼鐵市場整體強勁且價格上漲將為 Reliance 提供支持，也為向我們的基礎設施投入數十億美元的公司提供支持。因此，我們將根據關鍵規格來處理一些關稅中斷問題。但總體而言，我們非常積極。

Okay. And just to clarify, you said about 95%-plus of your business is domestic. Did I hear that correct?

好的。需要澄清的是，您說過大約 95% 以上的業務是在國內。我聽得對嗎？

Domestically sourced. Yes.

國內採購。是的。

I guess, and then just kind of on the accounting side, you mentioned that FIFO gross margin continue should move in the right direction in 1Q. I assume that with steel and metals prices generally rising that does create probably a LIFO headwind for the first quarter that's baked into guidance.

我想，從會計方面來說，您提到 FIFO 毛利率應該會在第一季繼續朝著正確的方向發展。我認為，隨著鋼鐵和金屬價格普遍上漲，這確實可能為第一季帶來後進先出法 (LIFO) 的阻力，而這已計入預期。

Yes. So I think we guided to LIFO income. And as we alluded to in our remarks that it's not that we're expecting prices or cost to decrease for the remainder of the year. So some of that was timing related to some specialty stainless steel and alloy products.

是的。所以我認為我們引導了後進先出收入。正如我們在評論中提到的那樣，我們預計今年剩餘時間內價格或成本不會下降。因此，其中一些是與一些特殊不銹鋼和合金產品相關的時間。

But generally speaking, the gross profit margin improvement has more to do with cost alignment, meaning costs on hand, getting better alignment with replacement costs and then to the extent that there's any average selling price uplift, you're right, that there will be some additional pickup on the margin side from that.

但一般來說，毛利率的提高與成本調整有關，即現有成本與替換成本更好地協調一致，然後在平均銷售價格上漲的範圍內，您說得對，利潤率會因此而有一些額外的回升。

Okay. Thank you very much.

好的。非常感謝。

Phil Gibbs, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

KeyBanc 資本市場公司的 Phil Gibbs。

Hi, thank you. Arthur, maybe you can explain a little bit more the LIFO credit. I know it's -- I think I understand it pretty decently, but just for the benefit of the kind of investment community out there, what it implies, I mean, I think you targeted the commentary around a lot of your stainless and alloy inventory. But mechanically, what does that actually imply within the business?

你好，謝謝。亞瑟，也許你可以進一步解釋一下後進先出信貸。我知道 - 我認為我相當理解這一點，但只是為了投資界的利益，它意味著什麼，我的意思是，我認為你的評論針對的是大量不銹鋼和合金庫存。但從機械角度來看，這對產業來說到底意味著什麼？

Right. So LIFO mix and cost per time changes does affect the LIFO calculation. So in the specialty stainless product case, longer lead times essentially create a lag between what happens between your selling prices and costs on hand. And that was something really atypical that we experienced.

正確的。因此，後進先出法組合和每次成本的變化確實會影響後進先出法的計算。因此，在特種不銹鋼產品的情況下，較長的交貨時間實際上會造成銷售價格和現有成本之間的延遲。這是我們經歷過的真正不尋常的事情。

So had lead times been normal, a lot of that inventory would have gotten flushed through the system but that wasn't the case. So really, what we're saying is $60 million of estimated LIFO income for 2025 is just timing. Effectively, it pushed LIFO income from 2024 into '25.

因此，如果交貨時間正常，許多庫存就會透過系統清除，但事實並非如此。所以實際上，我們所說的 2025 年預計後進先出收入 6,000 萬美元只是時機問題。實際上，它將後進先出收入從 2024 年推遲到了 2025 年。

So if you remove that component out of the LIFO guide, we're saying essentially coming out of the gates, we're saying flat LIFO. So essentially pretty much zero, right? We're saying we kind of expect prices to be where they are now cost. And as we said in our guidance, we're not necessarily factoring in any tariff impact on either our selling prices or on our LIFO guidance at this point for the remainder of the year.

因此，如果您將該元件從 LIFO 指南中刪除，我們所說的基本上是從一開始就採用扁平 LIFO。所以本質上幾乎是零，對嗎？我們說我們預計價格將維持在目前的價格水準。正如我們在指引中所說，目前我們不一定考慮關稅對我們的銷售價格或今年剩餘時間內的後進先出指引的影響。

So related to that longer lead time item material, I would imagine you have a good bit of that in places like aerospace and maybe to a lesser extent, defense within that pocket of inventory specifically, is the implication that you'll have less of that material on hand at the end of '25 versus the beginning? Or is the expectation is that the pricing for that falls? I mean, what's more of the embedded expectation there?

因此，與交貨週期較長的項目材料相關，我可以想像您在航空航天等領域擁有相當多的材料，也許在較小程度上，特別是在國防庫存中，這是否意味著到 25 年底，您手頭上的材料數量會比年初減少？或者預期價格會下降嗎？我的意思是，那裡面更深層的期望是什麼？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Absolutely, you nailed it. That's correct. So we would expect to have less of that by the end of this year.

絕對成功了。沒錯。因此我們預計到今年年底這一數字將會減少。

Yes, because Phil, for those products, some of the specialty products, the mills that we acquire that from, they kind of caught up on some of their production lead times started to come in on those items. And so they were shipping more to us. at the end of the year.

是的，因為 Phil，對於那些產品，一些特殊產品，我們從其採購的工廠，他們已經趕上了一些生產交付週期，並開始在這些產品上投入資金。因此他們向我們運送了更多的貨物。在年底。

At the same time, aerospace, as you referenced, is a home for a lot of those products. And as everyone knows, there were some disruptions here. So as build rates increase on airplanes, we should see that inventory move out of from our inventory into the customer supply chain.

同時，正如您所提到的，航空航天是許多此類產品的所在地。眾所周知，這裡出現了一些混亂。因此，隨著飛機製造率的增加，我們應該看到庫存從我們的庫存轉移到客戶供應鏈。

Thanks so much.

非常感謝。

We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Karla for any further or closing comments.

我們的問答環節已經結束。我想將發言權交還給卡拉，請她發表進一步的評論或結論。

All right. Thanks again to all of you for joining our call today and for your continued support of Reliance. And before we close out the call, I'd like to remind everyone that we'll be presenting at a few upcoming conferences: first, BMO's Global Metals Mining and Critical Materials Conference in Hollywood, Florida and also JPMorgan's 2025 Industrials Conference in New York City.

好的。再次感謝大家今天參加我們的電話會議並感謝你們對 Reliance 的持續支持。在我們結束電話會議之前，我想提醒大家，我們將在幾個即將召開的會議上發表演講：首先是 BMO 在佛羅裡達州好萊塢舉行的全球金屬採礦和關鍵材料會議，以及摩根大通在紐約市舉行的 2025 年工業會議。

And we hope to meet with many of you there. And once again, we'd like to thank all of our Reliance employees for everything they do every day, and please keep each other safe out there. Thank you.

我們希望在那裡與你們見面。我們再次感謝所有 Reliance 員工每天所做的一切，並請大家注意彼此的安全。謝謝。

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路並享受美好的一天。我們感謝您今天的參與。